Helping Hermione
by WritingJunkie
Summary: Severus hears Hermione crying and decides he should talk to her. Rated M for later chapters. Not entirely HBP complient
1. Chapter 1

It was the Christmas holidays at Grimmauld Place and all of the staff at Hogwarts had decided to have a break

Helping Hermione

It was the Christmas holidays at Grimmauld Place and all of the staff at Hogwarts had decided to have a break. Sirius had invited everyone to his home for the holiday so that they could all relax. Snape, being Snape, would have preferred to have stayed at Hogwarts in his dungeon but Dumbledore had made him go as he deserved a break like the rest of the staff did.

He reluctantly packed a few robes in a suitcase and left his beloved potions room behind for the holidays.

As soon as he arrived at Grimmauld Place, he was met by a group of rather rowdy, excited students, and a group of adults he didn't recognise, drinking in the kitchen. He found Molly and Remus in the living room and immediately requested a room away from all of the loud, disruptiveness of the main area of the house.

Remus led him to a room on the top floor of the building where no noise from the lower floors could be heard, then left him to unpack his things. Severus sighed, having not really wanted to come here in the first place let alone be surrounded by loud students all holiday as well as all term. He took his time unpacking his things, and then went downstairs to find something to eat. He noticed Hermione was sitting alone in a quiet corner of the living room when he briefly entered it on the way to find the kitchen but thought someone would probably sort her out by the end of the day anyway and carried on his search for the kitchen.

Later on that night he heard someone crying in a room near his own and wondered who it was. He decided to use his leglimency powers to try and read their mind and discovered that it was Hermione crying two rooms down from his. He got up and knocked on her door, waiting for her to answer. She opened the door and looked rather surprised to see the potions master standing there.

"Hello Professor…" she said quietly and he could tell she was holding back tears and trying to make herself appear to be ok, even though he had read her mind and knew she was far from fine.

"Miss Granger, may I come in?" he asked, hoping she would let him at least try to help.

"Er… yeah… ok…" she replied, looking rather surprised by him wanting to go in her room.

As soon as she had shut the door, he put a silencing spell on it so that nobody else could hear them. "Miss Granger I couldn't help overhearing you crying and I wondered what was troubling you," he said, looking at her tear-streaked face.

"I'm fine Professor…" she replied, looking away from him as if she knew he was trying to read her mind.

"I already know exactly what is in your mind, Miss Granger. I was able to read it from two rooms away which suggests that you are not entirely concentrating as well as you should be… I was wondering whether I could be of any assistance, seeing as you did help me out before…"

Hermione looked up at him, remembering the time she had helped him out when he had been in a fight.

"_Snape?" a familiar voice said and he looked up to see Hermione Granger sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk. _

"_Miss Granger…" he said irritably, having been desperate to avoid anyone he knew._

"_What are you doing here?" she asked._

"_The door said this is a dental surgery… I am in sufficient pain to stoop low enough to seek help from muggles…" he replied, glaring at her slightly._

_A man walked into the room and said to Hermione "Is this the next customer?"_

"_Yes father. He's… He's my friend so is there any chance you could treat him for free? So there is no record of him coming here? It would be a betrayal to his usual dentist you see…" Hermione said, trying to stop her parents being suspicious about him and connecting him to the man wanted by the police._

"_Well if he's your friend he is more than welcome here," her father smiled, "Free of charge of course." He added._

_Severus looked at Hermione in disbelief for a few seconds before he managed to pull himself together and enter the small room at the back of the surgery. "What did you say his name is, Hermione?" her father asked her as he prepared some numbing fluid._

"_Erm… Steve," Hermione said hurriedly._

"_Ok Steve. Just relax. This wont hurt at all."_

_Severus felt a small prickle of pain go across his jaw before he passed out from feeling so scared._

She smiled nervously at him and said, "Thanks Professor… I just fell out with Ronald… He's being really…"

"Weasley-like?" Snape suggested, smiling slightly, "Miss Granger, he is an arrogant boy that has not yet learnt the art of being nice at the right times… He shall learn. Until then he will need help from the more… grown-up friends he has… yourself for instance…"

Hermione looked quite surprised that she had just received something that resembled a compliment from Severus Snape. "Thanks Professor…" she said, looking up at him and smiling slightly.

Snape smiled at Hermione, glad that she was smiling even if it was only a small smile. He was extremely grateful for the help she had given him and hoped he had been some help to her. "If you need to talk, Miss Granger, feel free to come and find me. And perhaps a few occlumency lessons may help you to concentrate a little more… only if you want to though of course…"

Snape then removed the silencing charm and left her room, his long cape billowing behind him as he returned to his room once more, hopefully without any upset women interrupting his line of thinking this time.


	2. Chapter 2

Helping Hermione

Helping Hermione

Snape was sitting his room avoiding the mad rush of students as best as he could when he heard a knock at the door.

"Come in…" he said, looking at the door. It opened and Hermione was standing there looking at him. "Are you ok?" he asked, standing up.

"Yeah… I just wondered if I could sit with you for a while… Ronald is annoying me again…" she sighed, looking away from Snape but he could still read her mind as her concentration level was so low.

"Is this similar to the situation between Lupin and Tonks…?" he asked, wondering whether maybe Ron was refusing to go out with her for some reason.

"Sort of… Every time I go near him he starts acting really weird and sort of ignoring me…"

Snape knew how that felt from personal experience with Lily. He sighed, looking at the sadness on her face. "Have you said or done anything that could have annoyed or upset him in any way?" he asked, knowing that one wrong word could do more damage than was expected.

"Maybe…" she replied, wondering how he knew so much even though he hadn't looked into her eyes. She didn't realise he was able to read her mind without having to look at it as it was so weak at the moment.

"What did you say?" he asked, knowing that if she didn't tell him he would guess pretty easily anyway.

"I just said something about nobody wanting to go out with him or something… I didn't mean it…. I was just in a bad mood… It just came out…" she sighed, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Come here," Snape said, hugging her gently and deciding to let her into his mind to see how Lily had turned from liking him to hating him in minutes. He showed her the whole memory and when he stopped it he noticed she looked more surprised than she had done before.

"You… you loved Lily?" she asked, sounding rather surprised. Snape nodded and sighed. "And calling her a mudblood-"

"Don't say it like that," Snape said, hating the word mudblood. She suddenly understood why he had always removed points from Slytherins that insulted her for being muggle born.

"Sorry… calling her… erm… muggle born?" she said, rephrasing it. He nodded and she continued "Just because of that one incident you lost her?"

He nodded and let go of Hermione, looking outside at the muggles in the street, sighing. "I was angry and it just came out and she married Potter just to get back at me."

"So… without meaning to do so you caused the birth of Harry?"

He considered this, and then nodded. "I guess that's one way of putting it… I also caused the death of his parents…"

"You didn't mean to though…"

"No… but I still inadvertently murdered two people, Miss Granger," he sighed, "And in a way it is also my fault Sirius died… If I hadn't told the Dark Lord about Potter in the first place they wouldn't have needed a secret keeper and he wouldn't have been wrongly imprisoned in Azkaban… It's my fault all of this happened in the first place…"

"And it's all because of one word… That's just ludicrous though! I mean maybe it's your fault she hated you but surely she didn't marry James just to get back at you? Surely she didn't have a child with him just to get revenge?"

"It's not just about Lily. If I hadn't told the Dark Lord about the prophecy in the first place she would still be alive and so would James and we wouldn't be in the middle of a massive war right now," he said, looking at Hermione and sighing, "Perhaps James was right when he said I should never have existed."

"Professor! How could you say that? Without you I'd have probably done something rather stupid last night such as killing myself. You're not as bad as people say you are. And everyone makes mistakes. Yours was just a bit bigger than most people's."

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes of course I do! Professor you aren't a bad man. Not by choice anyway. I mean at least you're helping the Order, even if you're still helping the Dark lord as well…"

"How do you know about that?" he looked suddenly rather scared that she may have told someone else and he would be put in Azkaban or given the dementor's kiss. He shuddered inadvertently at the thought of dementors.

"Because…" she paused, trying to think of how to put it, "As I believe Karkaroff told you, Once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater… It's not your fault. It's the same for all Death Eaters, whether they like it or not."

"I don't want to help them, Miss Granger."

"I know. That's why you've been going to the meetings and lying to them and coming back even more grumpy than usual when they force the truth out of you."

He looked even more surprised that she knew this much. "How do you know all of that?"

"I'm not stupid, Professor. And I won't tell anyone I know. If you ever need to talk about it I'm here for you though, Ok?"

He nodded slowly, "But why are you being so nice to me?"

"Because you're discriminated against for something that is out of your control… It's unfair for you to have to go through everything alone."

He smiled at her, glad that he had someone he could call a friend even if he couldn't tell anyone else he was friends with her.

Someone was coming up the stairs so Snape hurriedly changed the subject so that whoever it was wouldn't think she was being nice to him and to save her the embarrassment of having to explain herself. "So do you understand the homework now, Miss Granger?" he asked as Ron and Harry entered the room.

"Yes Professor. Thank you for explaining," She then walked out of the room with Harry and Ron.


	3. Chapter 3

Helping Hermione

Helping Hermione

It was the first week back at school and Harry, Ron and Hermione had Potions next lesson with the Slytherins. Harry and Ron absolutely despised these lessons, not only because Snape was teaching but because they had to work with and be nice to the Slytherins.

"Why couldn't it have been something like Defence Against the Dark Arts? At least there's a purpose to that!" Ron said, complaining as he had been all morning about having Potions that day.

"Yeah I know. Why can't Potions be an optional subject? It would really make more sense!" Harry said, agreeing with Ron as they headed towards the dungeons for the Potions lesson.

"Potions is a useful lesson…" Hermione said quietly, knowing they would probably only argue with everything she said.

"How is it useful? We just sit there for an hour and do absolutely nothing that will ever help us," Ron asked, glancing at Hermione.

"It's useful if you want to be a Healer and it could save your life-" Hermione began to explain but was cut off by Harry.

"But Defence Against the Dark Arts would save your life more that Potions would," Harry said, wondering whether Hermione was just trying to annoy Ron more as they had been arguing all holiday.

"But if you're not able to protect yourself with a spell-" again she was cut off, this time by Ron.

"If we hadn't wasted our time in Potions with that slimy git and his favourites we might've learnt the spells to save our lives anyway!" Ron protested, glaring slightly at Hermione.

Hermione glared back at him and stormed off towards the Potions classroom, deciding it was pointless to pursue things any further as they weren't going to listen to her opinion. She was the first student to arrive at the Potions classroom and she walked in and sat at her usual desk near the front of the classroom.

Professor Snape glanced out of his Potions Stock Room and noticed it was Hermione looking rather annoyed. "Are you alright, Miss Granger?" he asked in the usual voice he used at school. She noticed something in his voice that showed genuine concern as well though.

She nodded and sighed, "Ronald is being an idiot again… Nothing unusual there really…" she replied, sighing again.

"What is he saying this time?" he asked, leaving the sorting he was doing and sitting down at the desk next to Hermione.

"He's just saying that Potions is a complete waste of time and refuses to hear my opinion about it. Harry's just as bad," she replied, looking into Snape's black eyes.

"Well in that case I think today shall be a theory lesson about why Potions is important. At least then they can be bored for an hour as they clearly don't have the brain capacity to learn anything," he replied, giving her a reassuring smile and standing up as the sound of students approaching got louder.

That lesson Professor Snape bored the living day lights out of all of the students in his classroom except Hermione who sat there listening intently, enjoying the look of complete and utter boredom on Harry and Ron's faces. Snape winked at her when he noticed she was smiling at the bored look on the faces and she smiled, knowing he was trying to make it as boring as possible.

After the lesson Hermione packed away much more slowly than usual and waited for every student to have left the room before she turned to Professor Snape and smiled.

"Do you think I bored them enough?" he asked, smiling at her.

"I think so Professor," she replied, smiling back. "I think they were almost asleep!"

"Shame they didn't fall asleep really… I could've given them a detention or 50…" he smirked his usual smirk when he thought about giving them detention and Hermione laughed. "And you don't have to call me Professor when there's nobody else around. Severus will do fine," he smiled.

"Ok Severus," she replied, smiling, "I think they deserve a few detentions, even if I am meant to be their friend."

"Me too… They certainly haven't treated you particularly nicely recently," he smiled "And if you ever need to talk about anything they're doing or saying I'm always here to listen," he added, smiling again.

"Thank you Severus," she said, smiling back and feeling as though she finally had a friend who understood her. "And if you ever need to talk I'll always be here to listen as well," Hermione also added, not wanting to be the one always receiving help from him. After all she knew he hadn't exactly had an easy life and she guessed he might like to have someone to talk to about it sometimes.

They smiled at each other once more before there was a knock at the door and the smile instantly vanished from both of their faces as Professor McGonagall entered the room. "Try not to misplace your homework again, Miss Granger, or I might have to remove more points!" Severus said, pretending he had just given her a replacement homework sheet.

"Yes Professor. It won't happen again," she said, then left the room, briefly smiling at Professor McGonagall as she left, closing the door behind her.HarryHh


	4. Chapter 4

Helping Hermione

A/N: This chapter is solely from Hermione's point of view. The same chapter will be written from Snape's point of view and posted after this one.

Helping Hermione

That evening in the Great Hall everyone was eating their food and drinking their drink and generally being happy to see one another. Harry and Ron were laughing at something Seamus had said but Hermione's mind was on something else. It was the Hogsmeade weekend that weekend and Harry and Ron were going with the rest of the boys from their dormitory which left her alone. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to go.

She glanced up at the staff table and noticed Professor Snape hurriedly looking away from her, blushing slightly. She wondered why he had been watching her, then realised she was basically on her own at the table so she probably looked rather lonely. She moved up a few seats and sat next to Ginny, even though she was in deep conversation with Lavender and wasn't likely to talk to her.

After what seemed like an eternity the Headmaster informed them of the proceedings for the weekend at Hogsmeade, then told them all to get a good night's sleep and get ready for the morning.

They all stood up and left the hall, a generally happy tone filling the students as they piled through the doors and separated to their various common rooms. Hermione sighed, following the rest of the Gryffindor's towards the common room, knowing she would have to go to Hogsmeade or everyone would think there was something wrong with her. She went up to the Gryffindor Common Room entrance, said the password and hurried inside. She went straight up to her dormitory, not bothering to say goodnight to anyone, and got ready for bed.

She climbed into her bed and hid under the covers, pulling the curtain around her bed so she couldn't be seen. She closed her eyes and thoughts of the newly appointed Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Snape, began to drift into her mind. She smiled, realising she liked him better as the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. He seemed to be able to teach more strictly, contrasting even more with the man she had gotten to know during the holidays.

She thought about how his robes billowed in the wind as he strode through the castle and how tough he always acted, despite being just a little kid at heart. She wished she could spend more time with the man she knew was in his heart but she knew the Gryffindors wouldn't like her at all if they knew she liked him.

Her mind was constantly thinking about him that night as she slowly drifted off to sleep, waking up in the morning with the thoughts of him still in her head and she smiled. The thoughts of him had cheered her up considerably and she hoped she would see him in Hogsmeade later.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This chapter is solely from Snape's point of view

A/N: This chapter is solely from Snape's point of view.

Helping Hermione

Severus was sitting at the staff table glaring at the Gryffindors laughing hysterically at something one of them had said. He wondered how they managed to be so joyful at such times when he noticed Hermione was sitting at the table as well but she wasn't laughing. Her mind appeared to be on something else when he realised it was the Hogsmeade weekend. He wondered if it was that which was bothering her as he had overheard a conversation between the Gryffindor boys about them going together without her.

Suddenly Hermione looked up and Severus hurriedly looked away, not wanting to seem as though he had been watching her. He felt his cheeks flush a pale red and hoped nobody had noticed. When he looked back at her he saw that she had moved up a few seats and was now sitting next to Ginny who was in deep conversation with Lavender brown.

He decided to finish his dinner and try to stop staring at Hermione for a while as it was probably rather unnerving for her. A while later the Headmaster stood up and announced the proceedings for that weekend's Hogsmeade trip, telling them all that they should get a good nights sleep before going the next day. Severus rolled his eyes at this, knowing that he hadn't had a good night's sleep for some time.

Albus then said that they could all leave the hall. Most of the teachers followed the students but he decided to go through the side entrance, not wanting to be held up. He glanced down at the Gryffindors once more and saw Hermione among the crowd and smiled, unable to stop himself, before he opened the door and left.

As he walked to his dungeon he thought about whether she would be in Hogsmeade tomorrow and wondered whether, if he got up early enough, he would be able to follow the students and watch where she went so he may be able to see her a few times. He smiled at that thought as he strolled through the dungeons, his cape billowing behind him.

He arrived at his classroom and went through into the staff area behind it. He got ready for bed, taking his sleeping potion, and climbed into his bed. He lay there thinking about Hermione for a while as the potion began to kick in, then he fell into a deep sleep thinking about her.


	6. Chapter 6

Helping Hermione

Helping Hermione

It was the morning of the Hogsmeade trip and all the students were gathered together waiting for the teachers to let them walk to Hogsmeade. Harry, Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville were all standing together and Ginny, Lavender, Luna, Cho, Parvati and Padma were all standing together which left Hermione to stand by herself. She had a book in her bag so she decided to read it. As she reached the bottom of a page and took her eyes briefly off the book she noticed the Professor Snape was watching her. He hurriedly looked away and continued stopping some of the Gryffindors from going through the gates too early. When he turned back he found her watching him and they both blushed, then looked away.

A while later Professor McGonagall let them all go through the gates and Hermione paused for a few minutes to put her book away before following everyone else. She watched Professor Snape ahead of her and saw that he seemed to be looking for someone. He began o drop back from the crowd a little to see if he could spot whoever it was he was looking for. Hermione decided to catch up with him.

"Hello Professor," she said, reaching his side. She noticed him jump in surprise and wondered why he had jumped. When he turned to her she noticed he was blushing slightly again.

"Miss Granger are you trying to give me a heart attack?!" he growled, stopping and doing his best to glare at her. The rest of the students were just going around the corner so he waited for them to entirely go around the corner before speaking to her again. "How did you get so far behind?"

"I dropped my book and needed to pick it up and get it back in my bag and its hard to get things in here as I have so many things," she explained, trying not to blush too profusely.

He nodded, unable to keep a small smile from appearing on his lips "Was it an interesting book?" he asked.

"Well it was a Potions book so I would have thought you would have found it interesting," Hermione replied, now also smiling.

"Good!" he said, smiling now and not trying to stop himself. Hermione thought he looked so much nicer when he smiled and wished that he would do it more often.

"We should probably keep walking…" she said, realising that they were now some distance behind the rest of the people, both students and teachers alike.

"Yes we probably should!" Severus said, noticing that they were indeed a fair distance behind the rest.

They began briskly walking to catch up with everyone else and Hermione smiled at the sight of Severus' cape billowing behind him. She liked the way it made him look more powerful. After about five minutes of walking they managed to get the rest of the school back in sight so they slowed down a bit more. Hogsmeade wasn't far now and they would be there in no time.


	7. Chapter 7

Helping Hermione

Helping Hermione

As soon as they arrived in Hogsmeade they separated so as not to look too suspicious. Hermione headed straight towards the book store and Severus headed towards the Potions shop.

Hermione's Point of View

Hermione looked around at all the books, realising she had already bought practically all of them, when she noticed a Potions Encyclopaedia she remembered seeing on Severus' desk. She picked it up and began looking through it when the witch behind the counter coughed rather loudly and said "This is a book store, not a library! Either buy something or leave."

Hermione took the required money (4 Galleons, 3 Sickles and 15 Knuts) out of her pocket and passed it to her, then left and headed towards the Three Broomsticks to read it.

She opened the door and ordered a butterbeer before taking herself and her Potions book over to an empty table and beginning to read it. It wasn't long before the door opened and Severus entered the room.

Severus' Point of View

Severus had been in desperate need of a few Potions ingredients for the Wolfsbane Potion for Lupin. He despised having to make the thing every month because it took up so much valuable time he could have been spending on more interesting things. However, he knew he had to do as Albus asked him to so he made sure the Potion was always ready on time.

He entered the small, dark alleyway that lead to the Potions shop and then stepped over the threshold into the darkness of the shop. His eyes soon adjusted to the dark, being used to the darkness in his dungeon, and he hurriedly collected the ingredients he needed. He paid for them and left the shop, heading to the Three Broomsticks for a drink.

He decided that while he was there he would go through the ingredients and make sure he hadn't forgotten anything as he had other ingredients he needed to get the next day and couldn't afford to waste any more tie collecting ingredients for the werewolf.

He opened the door of the Three Broomsticks and noticed that it was surprisingly full. He ordered a butterbeer, feeling as though someone was watching him. He turned round to see who it was and noticed Hermione sitting at a table in the corner reading something and watching him at the same time. He decided to go and sit with her, and seeing as there was no more space in the pub it wouldn't seem suspicious.


	8. Chapter 8

Helping Hermione

Severus gulped, took a deep breath and then headed over to the table. Hermione was wondering if he was coming to sit with her and secretly hoped he was, even though it would look strange to the rest of the people in the pub.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked her when he reached the table.

"No, you can sit there if you like," Hermione replied, smiling at him.

He felt butterflies in his stomach just like he had done all those years ago whenever he had seen Lily Evans and he wondered if he was in love as he said, "Thank you, Miss Granger."

Hermione smiled, feeling her heart skip a beat as he sat down beside her and his cape touched her arm, "Did you get what you came here for?" she asked, looking at all the bags of ingredients he had.

He nodded, "I believe so…" he picked the bags up and looked through them all carefully.

Hermione watched him, trying to think of what Potion he would be making with these ingredients when she suddenly realised it could be Wolfsbane and said, "Erm… Professor… I don't mean to sound as though I'm being nosey but… Aren't you missing the wormwood…?"

Severus looked through all the bags again, then nodded, "How did you know…?" he asked, wondering how she could possibly know what ingredients went into Wolfsbane Potion.

She picked the encyclopaedia up from beside her on the bench and showed him, "I was just reading this and it has the list of ingredients in it…" she replied, smiling, "I saw it open on your desk on these pages and wondered what you were making."

Severus looked quite surprised that she had paid this much attention to what was open on his desk, but then he smiled, "If you hadn't been nosey I would have forgotten an ingredient and would have had to waste some of tomorrow when I have more important things to do looking for it."

Hermione smiled, "Well that wouldn't be good!"

"No it wouldn't," Severus replied, drinking some of his butterbeer. "I'll have to go and get the wormwood later."

"I could get it for you if you like?" Hermione offered, knowing that this would mean she would have to see him again later on to give it to him.

Severus smiled, also realising that they would then see one another later and nodded, "That would be very helpful, Miss Granger!" He then took out the required money for it and handed it to her, smiling at her generosity.

"Where should we meet later so that I can give it to you then?" she asked, putting the money inside her robes so as not to lose it.

"In my office at 7pm," Severus said, smiling at her.

Hermione almost laughed at him smiling again; he seemed to be smiling a lot around her lately. "Ok then, your office at 7pm," she smiled.

They finished their drinks and left the Three Broomsticks, both heading in separate directions to finish their shopping and for Hermione to get the Wormwood for Severus.

Hermione headed down a series of alleyways until she found the one she was looking for and headed into the dark Potions shop that she had seen Severus use so many times before when she had nothing better to do than watch him. She paid for the wormwood and left the shop, noticing that it was getting darker outside now.

She began to head back to Hogwarts, wondering how long she had before she had to meet Severus in his office and whether she would be able to change before she could go and see him.

The castle was looming in the distance as she carried her heavy luggage back from the shopping trip and she noticed that it was getting dark quite quickly now. She guessed that she would probably have just about enough time to change before she had to meet Severus as she pushed the castle door open and headed tp her dormitory.


End file.
